This long-lost American tale tells the true story of two young girls, Abigail and Rebecca Bates, the daughters of a lighthouse keeper in Scituate, Massachusetts, who turn back a British warship during the War of 1812. Early in September, 1814, a British warship was sighted offshore preparing to launch barges toward the lighthouse, barges containing troops bent upon ransacking the town. Simeon Bates, the lighthouse keeper, was away, leaving his wife, two very young boys, and his two daughters, Abigail and Rebecca. They spotted the ship, and knowing their was not enough time to warn the town, got out a fife and drum that they had learned how to play that summer, and, hidden from sight of the ship, started playing "Yankee Doodle", loudly enough that the sound carried across the water to the ship and the barges. The ship had waited until high tide so it could slip over the sand bar and into the harbor, but upon hearing "Yankee Doodle" made the assumption that there were colonial troops present, troops that might have a cannon, and the ship was not within easy range of cannon fire. it was too great a risk to take-and the troops returned to the ship. The origin of the song "Yankee Doodle" is told here. Special thanks to Tim Abbott for his blog www.greensleeves.typepad.com, where we found this story and others. Our website, with both of our shows, 1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries and 1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales, is at www.1001storiespodcast.com. Facebook www.facebook.com/1001Heroes Support our show and keep the family friendly shows coming at www.patreon.com/1001Heroes.
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